Drawing on multi-donor trust fund financing from the World Bank, the Digital Inclusion Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) helped the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa develop the first provincial-level digital strategy in Pakistan. Initiatives like Digital Youth Summits and fellowships engaged over 5,000 attendees, resulting in 21 civil service solutions for 16 provincial government departments. The ASA additionally informed the Digital Jobs project, which included over 13,000 youth, and helped shape additional digital operations in Pakistan.
Challenge
In Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, long-term instability, outmigration, and industrial decline have taken a toll. Despite being Pakistan’s third most populous province, KP contributes only around 10 percent of national GDP and grapples with the highest unemployment rate in the country. Young people (15-29 years old) make up nearly half of the 30.5 million residents, yet their road to prosperity has been rocky, and many challenges remain. A misaligned education system and a weak investment climate in post-conflict KP have contributed to the employment gap, hampering economic growth. Higher unemployment rates among youth and women significant underrepresentation in the workforce threaten to increase risks like radicalization and further instability.
As the region transitions out of prolonged conflict, addressing these issues is critical to unlock KP youth's vast potential.
Approach
Traditional efforts to integrate youth into the domestic sector have focused on skills development and training. In the digital age, however, in the digital age, progress on youth inclusion and economic growth often means investing in digital jobs, which can help provide young people with opportunities to earn money through technology, develop their creativity, and find a purpose. Digital jobs can transcend geographical boundaries, bridging divides while offering flexibility and creating global employment opportunities.
Moreover, ensuring equal access to opportunities for both men and women is crucial. Actively integrating more young women into the workforce, can transform existing gender dynamics, while bolstering economic growth, further contributing to youth development and societal stability.
To address youth unemployment and exclusion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the World Bank collaborated with the provincial government to connect youth to opportunities in the digital economy under the KP Youth and Digital Inclusion ASA. The World Bank partnered with the KP Information Technology Board (KPITB) to tackle the challenge from both supply and demand angles. Supply-side interventions aimed to enhance the digital skills necessary for online work. To accomplish this, the project supported the KPITB in creating Durshals (meaning “gateway” in Pashto), a network of gender-inclusive community spaces across the province that enabled youth to collaborate, innovate, access training, and launch new businesses.
Demand-side objectives included attracting domestic and international outsourcing companies. A strong focus was placed on ensuring that digital transformation does not exclude women and disadvantaged groups across all activities.
Through policy dialogue, direct engagement with youth, and partnerships with the technology sector, the World Bank assisted in formulating Pakistan's inaugural provincial digital strategy, "Digital KP." This strategy focuses on skills training, business incubation, and digital infrastructure to propel KP towards becoming a tech hub. Moreover, the ASA informed, the Digital Jobs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa project. This project's three-pronged approach aimed to create an enabling environment, provide skills training and business support, and offer online work opportunities.
Results
The Digital Inclusion ASA enabled significant strides in KP's digital sphere, creating the first provincial-level digital strategy in Pakistan.
The initiative also organized Digital Youth Summits, attracting over 5,000 attendees and showcasing KP's potential as a tech destination through hackathons and app challenges. Also, programs like the KY Youth Employment Program and the KP Government Innovation Fellowship provided training and opportunities for youth. Youth fellows worked on tangible solutions to identified challenges, including agro-tech, tourism, and citizen services, for provincial government departments. In total, 70 graduates created 21 solutions for 16 provincial departments across four fellowship cycles.
Additionally, by supporting the development of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Digital Policy (2018-2023), which defined a pathway for the digital transformation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Digital Inclusion ASA paved the way for the Digital Jobs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Project. This project promoted the inclusion of youth and women in the digital economy, delivering trainings to over 13,000 youth, including more than 4,000 women. Of this overall figure, 1,300 persons with disabilities (including 541 women) participated in trainings focused on digitally employable skill. To enhance digital job opportunities over the long term, the project developed a dedicated platform to connect digital freelancers with digital “gig-work” needed by government departments. Of the overall 13,300 young people trained, nearly 6,000 (5,881) (including 1,600 women) reported that they generated income from online sources or jobs in the IT/digital sector. The Durshals helped support the incubation of 25 women-led start-ups, which resulted in the creation of more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Partnerships
The project worked with Jazz Mobile Communication Limited, a Pakistani telecommunications company, to promote the inclusion of women and youth in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s digital economy. Jazz contributed $50,000 to the ASA, through an innovative arrangement representing the first instance of a private company providing direct support to a project in Pakistan. Jazz supported the Digital Youth Summit directly between 2017-2022. The company also contributed to the project’s digital skills program by providing internet devices for female trainees, and by connecting young entrepreneurs with experts and mentors from the tech sector.
Looking Ahead
By supporting the development of digital policy for the region, the Digital Inclusion ASA laid the foundation for improved engagement and emphasized the importance of the digital space for service delivery and job opportunities. Building on this groundwork, the World Bank has expanded its digital investments in Pakistan. Launched in 2024, the Digital Economy Enhancement Project (funded with $78 million from the International Development Association) will broaden access to digital public services for citizens and businesses across Pakistan.